Antimicrobial therapy for otitis media with effusion ('secretory' otitis media)
Article Abstract:
The antibiotic amoxicillin is not an effective treatment for middle-ear effusion (fluid) in infants and children. Four hundred sixty infants and children with middle-ear effusion were treated with amoxicillin, amoxicillin with a decongestant-antihistamine combination or with a placebo. The patients were examined two and four weeks after treatment began. Only 30.7% of the children treated with amoxicillin or amoxicillin with decongestant-antihistamine had improved hearing, compared with 32.8% of those in the placebo group. The amount of effusion decreased in children treated with amoxicillin or amoxicillin with decongestant-antihistamine . Four weeks after treatment, however, the recurrence of effusion in children treated with the antibiotic treatments was two to six times higher than in children treated with placebo. Other scientists have found amoxicillin to be an effective treatment for middle-ear effusion. This is partly because of the methods used to measure hearing and fluid in the ear.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1991
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Changing the treatment paradigm for acute otitis media in children
Article Abstract:
Research has shown that the diagnosis and treatment of otitis media in children must be changed. Otitis media is an infection in the middle ear. A 1998 study found that a 5-day course of antibiotics was just as effective as a 10-day course. Prolonged antibiotic use can cause the bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics. Children are also more compliant with a shorter treatment. The most effective way to diagnose otitis media is to take fluid samples from the middle ear so they can be analyzed for bacteria. More physicians need to be trained in this procedure, which is called tympanocentesis.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1998
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Treatment of acute otitis media with a shortened course of antibiotics: a meta-analysis
Article Abstract:
A five-day course of antibiotics seems to be as effective as a longer treatment period in treating otitis media in children. Otitis media is an infection of the middle ear. Researchers used meta-analysis to evaluate 32 clinical trials that compared less than seven days of antibiotic use with seven or more days of antibiotic use. Although children receiving less than seven days of treatment were more likely to have a relapse, at 20 to 30 days following treatment, outcomes were similar in both groups. A shorter course of antibiotics would lower costs and reduce the risk of drug resistance.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1998
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Antral Helicobacter pylori in patients with chronic renal failure. Oestrogen receptors in colorectal carcinoma
- Abstracts: Physicians and medical education. Critical care medicine
- Abstracts: Use of an artificial neural network for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction. Neural networks: what are they?
- Abstracts: Combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy for carcinomas of the anus. Multimodal therapy in locally advanced breast carcinoma
- Abstracts: Clinical experience with pamidronate in the treatment of Paget's disease of bone. Cancer-associated hypercalcemia: morbidity and mortality: clinical experience in 126 treated patients